


Office Therapy

by IsisKitsune



Series: Twilight is for Sookers [85]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Morbius: The Living Vampire
Genre: Angst and Feels, Armchair Therapy, Claire Temple Deserves Better, Claire Temple is So Done, Friendship, M/M, Mentions of addiction, Questions, Rants, Vampire Cure, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-29 20:48:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19027642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsisKitsune/pseuds/IsisKitsune
Summary: WTF do you do with this? Your co-worker, the kid you saw rise through the ranks, the kid you've practically mentored and helped guide to his 'calling' for over a decade is a vampire(ish/whatever that's not the important point)... Okay, old news. NBD, right? Right....What do you do after you've experienced the events yourself? After they've fixed your vampirism problem and suddenly he's back from nearly getting killed, and curing you and-Every Fucking Thing just... What do you do with this?





	Office Therapy

Michael hugged Claire the moment he saw her, “I'm finally free of my exile!”

She laughed and smacked him, then shook her head at his frown, “I'm fine, they warned me I might be anemic for awhile. Everything's good... I'm, I'm sorry for any joking or anything I've put you through thought all these years.”

Michael rolled his eyes and shrugged, “Hey, Matt gets blind jokes, I get vamp jokes. I thought that was the status quo.”

Claire finally relaxed a bit, “Still, all the time? How do you deal with that?”

“Claire, the only reason I can't be completely 'cured' of my mutation is because I wouldn't survive long enough to fix the problem. Hell what they did have right about fixing it originally, I was allergic to or just had such bad reactions it nearly killed me. I'm, I'm just truly one of a kind.” He shrugged, “Trust me, I've witnessed what would happen otherwise... I- That's a story for a long night drinking and no work the next day... or several.”

“Still, how even-”

“People are not food,” Michael shrugged, “It just, it took a long time to get that in my head enough that I don't just snap at it. It helps that as long as I'm not injured now, I don't have to worry about the Thirst.”

“Fuck, okay work, need to work.”

“Has Madame Butterfly been alright?”

“She's been... she'll feel a lot better when she sees you, I bet.”

Michael grumbled as he scratched at his side, “We sure they used the right sutures? Cause the itch is still annoying as shit.”

Claire laughed as she tossed him a set of gloves, “Come on, time to work.”

It took three open wounds, the last of which was sever bleeding, patched up and sent on their way, before he finally gets her to snap out of the worried glances at him, “Take a breath, whatever you have roving around in that head of yours, you need to tell it to shut the fuck up. Working distracted like this causes big mistakes.”

“How, how do you deal with-”

Michael waved a bloodied glove in front of his face, “Same way you work through lunch... Not the time, not the place.” He frowned as he caught the scent, before sniffing at the glove again. “Hold on, get him a glucose test,” he called to the CNA currently cleaning up the last patient. “His glucose is extremely high.”

“See, like that? How do you deal with that?!”

“Claire, it's work. Blood isn't food to me anymore, well sort of but it's... Okay little more like, no that's a bad analogue too. It's, it's like ugh this is more difficult than I thought. It's like medicine, but like painkillers. I don't need it unless I'm in pain like sever pain. Even though I may always have that craving to reach for those pills, I can't let my self do it until I need them. And it's more when I have to, like when I got hurt which hasn't happened in... god, it's been so long since anything like that happened... Or, sometimes someone will donate to me- when I let him. But I've trained my brain to not see or smell blood and think 'food' I think 'work' someone's hurt and needs help. That's how I do it.”

Claire nearly forgot about her gloves, Michael had to grab her hand before she wiped her eyes, “But- it's everywhere here.”

“Claire, knowing and having felt what you now know. Look around, and think, why do you think I was so fucking panicked for so long? Why I still to this day have doubts? Just, breathe, we got work to do.”

Claire finally snapped off her gloves, “This, god kid, just... You deserve sainthood at this point.”

Michael laughed, “No my circus, let's get this ER cleared so we can actually get a lunch on time.”

He sighed when he actually got the all clear for lunch, grumbling when he caught Madame Butterfly looking a little worried, “Is it an absolute day?”

She shook her head, “Just, manic day... No one can make up their minds.”

“Pull it back for awhile, okay? Just, be here and now for a bit.” She nodded as he headed for his office to grab his lunch break, he was starving and he had some fresh steaks just waiting to be eaten.

Claire was close behind, “Is that why, the raw meat thing?”

“No, that's- that's just a thing the balance seemed to have started requiring awhile back. Actually animal blood makes me sick. Hell anything but fully cooked meat use to make me sick too. We just think it's an iron requirement now or something to keep me stabilized.”

When he got to his office, he pulled the chair out to let her flop into it, “But- just-”

Michael found his cooler, popped the lid on his container, “Ya got 30 minutes, start ranting.”

Michael was so amused as he let her pace back and forward, quite the feat given his desk took up most of his closet of an office, and just ramble so start and stop style he just ate and waited until she let it out, “Wait, are there cameras here?”

“Not in this room. That's why I shut the door.”

Claire finally collapsed into the chair, finally ranting herself tired, “Just- fuck.”

Michael ended up coughing in the middle of chewing, “That, yeah that sums everything up in a nutshell.”

“Just... FUCK!”

“Feel better?”

“No, what the fuck am I supposed to do with this type of experience, knowing this shit?!”

“Well, on the bright side? You now know first hand how I know some of what I know just by seeing someone.”

Claire's head hit the desk, Michael being quick enough to pull his lunch away before hair got into it, “How long do I got?”

Michael glanced at his phone, “20 minutes.”

“FUCK!”

Michael chuckled, ending with laughter at the several questioning voices down the hall, “I think you just single handed built the rumor mill.”

Claire tapped her head against the desk for good measure, “I should go get lunch.”

“I've got a salad I can offer, I doubt you'll want any of my main,” he shrugged the confused look, “Parker's been on my ass about eating greens... again.”

Claire laughed and shook her head, “Fuck trying to get to, from, and eat before 20 minutes is up, I'll take it.”

Michael grabbed the container from the cooler, “Ugh, little shit packed vinaigrette, he knows I hate vinaigrette.”

“Shut up and hand it over, I'm starving, got an extra fork?”

“Somewhere,” he shuffled through his desk, finding one of the take out utensils he always keeps from ordering in on shift. “Here.”

“Thanks,” Claire shook the dressing container as she smiled, finally.

“Feel better?”

She nodded, “Thanks, I needed that.”

 

 


End file.
